The Limbourg Brothers: March from Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry & A Lesson in Pastels

We began our picture study of the Limbourg brothers, Paul, Hermann and Jean with March's painting from the Tres Riches Heures.
March: the Château de Lusignan, from Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry

The painting shows the year's first farm work; sowing and ploughing and the like. The chateau in the background is that of Lusignan, one of the Duke's favourites.

We talked about how the Tres Riches Heures is the classic example of a medieval book of hours. I told them that a book of hours was a collection of the text for each liturgical hour of the day - hence the name - which often included other, supplementary, texts. Later there were Book of Days which also commonly included calendars, prayers, psalms and masses for certain holy days. I told them that the painting was painted some time between 1412 and 1416.
I gave them a little background about the artists. They came from Flanders but were generally referred to as Germans. Very little is known about them but they are believed to have been born into an artistic family, their father being a wood sculptor and their uncle being an artist working variously for the French Queen.

They are known to have executed several other pieces of work apart from the Tres Riches Heures but most of these seem to have been lost. In around February 1416 all three Limbourg brothers died before the age of thirty, apparently killed by an epidemic.

I told my older students, who are studying the rise of Burgundy, a little about the man who commissioned the brothers to paint the Tres Riches Heures. Jean de Berry was one of the highest nobles in 15th-century France and was identified with an anti-Burgundian faction, as a result of which his property was attacked on several occasions by pro-Burgundian mobs. On one such occasion, in 1411, his Chateau de Bicetre was burned to the ground, destroying many of the works of the Limbourgs.

I told them a little about the materials that were used in the paintings. The Limbourg's used a wide variety of colors obtained from minerals, plants or chemicals and mixed with gums to provide a binder for the paint. Amongst the more unusual colors they used were a green obtained from crushed flowers, and an ultramarine made from crushed Middle Eastern lapis-lazuli, used to paint the brilliant blues, which was, of course, extremely expensive. The extremely fine detail which was the characteristic feature of the Limbourgs needed extremely fine brushes and lenses.
Do you recognize the plow from the boy's history notebooks? Yes, it is from the this March picture from Tres Riches Heures. And perhaps you will find the other pictures from other paintings in this series as we go along.
Six-year old student's work
 After appreciating the painting, we thought we would make our own smaller version of a book of days. We decided to make four pieces of art, representing the four seasons and that we would do one a week for the four weeks we will be studying the Limbourgs.
I decided that we would use chalk pastels instead of paints for our pieces as I have been wanting to complete some lessons in that medium for a long while. My students are self-conscious of making pieces with a lot of detail for fear of mistakes, so steering them instead to the minimalist approach that the pastel provide would eliminate that as an issue for my young artists.
13-year old student work
We picked the twilight barn for our representation of spring.
My 16-year old son is autistic and doesn't like the feel of the chalks very much so he used a paper towel to blend the colors...
16-year old special needs student's work
instead of "fisting" it in.
My daughter, who has already graduated, wanted to join us with this project, but she used her oil pastels, which gives it a richer color, but does not blend as easily.
My 9-year old got very artistic with his clouds; they began to take on a bit of Van Gogh character.


Later we will begin making them a part of our own Book of Days.

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